Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Are the surge protectors you can buy in TRNC of reasonable quality?

I could bring surge protectors from UK if needed, but they are heavy and bulky.

Has anyone had any problems with ones bought locally?

Thanks.

the cheap ones you can buy locally work one time only,they have a thin strip of metal which burns out when overloaded-but they will work.
The dearer ones you buy in the UK are more sopisticated,and will work repeatedly,but are more expensive-take your pick.

Bring them with you. If you don't want too much bulk you can get smaller units.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/three-socket- ... hite-vv94c

Or types like below which don't have trailing leads.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-Elec-Switch ... b_title_ce
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maxim-Socket-Ad ... 78DJ1SKCQH

Not particularly recommending these, just giving examples.

When considering whether or not to protect your Computer, TV and other 'expensive' electrical equipment from 'dirty' electric - don't forget that locally, brown outs are probably just as common as power surges and if you want to protect against both, you may wish to consider purchasing a Voltage rRegulator, or a UPS with built in Voltage Regulator (depending upon your requirements)

To give you some idea of the price of Voltage Regulators, we had a 'Flash' Sale running for three days (weekend before last) at prices about half of what comparable products are available locally - check it out on our Sticky Thread - http://www.kibkomnorthcyprusforum.com/v ... =8&t=29329

As an electrical engineer I would recommend an Elko voltage regulator to control the whole house, not cheap but nor is replacing anything that has PCBs.
The VRs regulate the voltage at 220v, 15 to 20Kva should be sufficient for the whole house.

Thanks to Philoz and ToastLady for the useful info on surge protectors. That answers my questions.

Re voltage regulators: In London, I had one installed when I renovated my flat. It had to be installed at same time as the fusebox.

In TRNC, I will be renting a house, so I don't think I can have a voltage regulator? In other words, it cannot be 'added on' without disturbing the existing installation?

Thanks.

blueparrot wrote:Thanks to Philoz and ToastLady for the useful info on surge protectors. That answers my questions.

Re voltage regulators: In London, I had one installed when I renovated my flat. It had to be installed at same time as the fusebox.

In TRNC, I will be renting a house, so I don't think I can have a voltage regulator? In other words, it cannot be 'added on' without disturbing the existing installation?

Thanks.

Both Satellite Cyprus and ELKO do supply 'stand alone' voltage regulators so that you can use them to protect specific items - if you take a look at their websites, you'll see what I mean. I have no experience of the ELKO ones (although I'm sure that they're excellent ) but I have used the ones from Satellite Cyprus, and they 'Do what it says on the Tin'

To protect my TV I use one of these (230v version)

http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/ ... RRWidgetID

To protect my PC / monitor and provide some battery back up in the event of power outage I use one of these (230v version)

http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/ ... /P-BR1500G

The software that comes with this second unit has recorded in the last 24 weeks

15 blackouts (mains power cuts out entirely)
4 undervoltage events (less than 176 volts)
0 overvoltages events (more than 294 volts)
2 electrical noise events

As a matter of interest, can you buy UPS here, as they are pretty heavy to carry in a suitcase?

Sorry Blueparrot, I understand you don't want this type of voltage regulator but the info you're giving is incorrect, it can be fitted at anytime after the installation, just putting you right.

ToastLady wrote:As a matter of interest, can you buy UPS here, as they are pretty heavy to carry in a suitcase?

You can buy UPS here in north Cyprus but after having tried several of the ones available locally and not having been happy with their performance and lifespan I eventually decided to go with an 'expensive' UPS from market leading brand (APC). Being unable to find a source of this in North Cyprus I eventually got it form the South from these people.

http://www.eshopcy.com.cy/search_main.p ... lter-588=1

You may need to use something like google chrome's auto translate function on this website. As I did not have a south Cyprus address or phone number I did have to go to the shop and order it, pay a deposit and await email notification that it had arrived before returning to collect it some days later. However over all I think it has been a worth while investment money and time wise.

Thank you very much Erol. Will check out when next over south side. Certainly a better option than bringing one back from the UK, for me anyway.